.Net Improve type safety: Return TRecord instead of object in ITextSearch.GetSearchResultsAsync

dotnet/src/SemanticKernel.Abstractions/Data/TextSearch/ITextSearch.cs

@@ -36,12 +36,12 @@ Task<KernelSearchResults<TextSearchResult>> GetTextSearchResultsAsync(
         CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);
 
     /// <summary>
-    /// Perform a search for content related to the specified query and return <see cref="object"/> values representing the search results.
+    /// Perform a search for content related to the specified query and return strongly-typed <typeparamref name="TRecord"/> values representing the search results.
     /// </summary>
     /// <param name="query">What to search for.</param>
     /// <param name="searchOptions">Options used when executing a text search.</param>
     /// <param name="cancellationToken">The <see cref="CancellationToken"/> to monitor for cancellation requests. The default is <see cref="CancellationToken.None"/>.</param>
-    Task<KernelSearchResults<object>> GetSearchResultsAsync(
+    Task<KernelSearchResults<TRecord>> GetSearchResultsAsync(
         string query,
         TextSearchOptions<TRecord>? searchOptions = null,
         CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);

dotnet/src/SemanticKernel.Core/Data/TextSearch/VectorStoreTextSearch.cs

@@ -213,11 +213,11 @@ Task<KernelSearchResults<TextSearchResult>> ITextSearch<TRecord>.GetTextSearchRe
     }
 
     /// <inheritdoc/>
-    Task<KernelSearchResults<object>> ITextSearch<TRecord>.GetSearchResultsAsync(string query, TextSearchOptions<TRecord>? searchOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    Task<KernelSearchResults<TRecord>> ITextSearch<TRecord>.GetSearchResultsAsync(string query, TextSearchOptions<TRecord>? searchOptions, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
     {
         var searchResponse = this.ExecuteVectorSearchAsync(query, searchOptions, cancellationToken);
 
-        return Task.FromResult(new KernelSearchResults<object>(this.GetResultsAsRecordAsync(searchResponse, cancellationToken)));
+        return Task.FromResult(new KernelSearchResults<TRecord>(this.GetResultsAsTRecordAsync(searchResponse, cancellationToken)));
     }
 
     #region private
@@ -367,6 +367,28 @@ private async IAsyncEnumerable<object> GetResultsAsRecordAsync(IAsyncEnumerable<
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Return the search results as strongly-typed <typeparamref name="TRecord"/> instances.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="searchResponse">Response containing the records matching the query.</param>
+    /// <param name="cancellationToken">Cancellation token</param>
+    private async IAsyncEnumerable<TRecord> GetResultsAsTRecordAsync(IAsyncEnumerable<VectorSearchResult<TRecord>>? searchResponse, [EnumeratorCancellation] CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (searchResponse is null)
+        {
+            yield break;
+        }
+
+        await foreach (var result in searchResponse.WithCancellation(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            if (result.Record is not null)
+            {
+                yield return result.Record;
+                await Task.Yield();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Return the search results as instances of <see cref="TextSearchResult"/>.
     /// </summary>

dotnet/src/SemanticKernel.UnitTests/Data/VectorStoreTextSearchTests.cs

@@ -78,12 +78,14 @@ public async Task CanGetSearchResultAsync()
     {
         // Arrange.
         var sut = await CreateVectorStoreTextSearchAsync();
+        ITextSearch<DataModel> typeSafeInterface = sut;
 
         // Act.
-        KernelSearchResults<object> searchResults = await sut.GetSearchResultsAsync("What is the Semantic Kernel?", new() { Top = 2, Skip = 0 });
+        KernelSearchResults<DataModel> searchResults = await typeSafeInterface.GetSearchResultsAsync("What is the Semantic Kernel?", new TextSearchOptions<DataModel> { Top = 2, Skip = 0 });
         var results = await searchResults.Results.ToListAsync();
 
         Assert.Equal(2, results.Count);
+        Assert.All(results, result => Assert.IsType<DataModel>(result));
     }
 
     [Fact]
@@ -117,12 +119,14 @@ public async Task CanGetSearchResultsWithEmbeddingGeneratorAsync()
     {
         // Arrange.
         var sut = await CreateVectorStoreTextSearchWithEmbeddingGeneratorAsync();
+        ITextSearch<DataModelWithRawEmbedding> typeSafeInterface = sut;
 
         // Act.
-        KernelSearchResults<object> searchResults = await sut.GetSearchResultsAsync("What is the Semantic Kernel?", new() { Top = 2, Skip = 0 });
+        KernelSearchResults<DataModelWithRawEmbedding> searchResults = await typeSafeInterface.GetSearchResultsAsync("What is the Semantic Kernel?", new TextSearchOptions<DataModelWithRawEmbedding> { Top = 2, Skip = 0 });
         var results = await searchResults.Results.ToListAsync();
 
         Assert.Equal(2, results.Count);
+        Assert.All(results, result => Assert.IsType<DataModelWithRawEmbedding>(result));
     }
 
 #pragma warning disable CS0618 // VectorStoreTextSearch with ITextEmbeddingGenerationService is obsolete
@@ -270,17 +274,16 @@ public async Task LinqGetSearchResultsAsync()
             Filter = r => r.Tag == "Even"
         };
 
-        KernelSearchResults<object> searchResults = await typeSafeInterface.GetSearchResultsAsync(
+        KernelSearchResults<DataModel> searchResults = await typeSafeInterface.GetSearchResultsAsync(
             "What is the Semantic Kernel?",
             searchOptions);
         var results = await searchResults.Results.ToListAsync();
 
-        // Assert - Results should be DataModel objects with Tag == "Even"
+        // Assert - Results should be strongly-typed DataModel objects with Tag == "Even"
         Assert.NotEmpty(results);
         Assert.All(results, result =>
         {
-            var dataModel = Assert.IsType<DataModel>(result);
-            Assert.Equal("Even", dataModel.Tag);
+            Assert.Equal("Even", result.Tag); // Direct property access - no cast needed!
         });
     }